Deck 1: The Revolution and the Constitution

Question 1

John Winthrop led which early group of settlers into colonial America?

A) Wealthy English Puritans who settled in the South in order to avoid religious persecution in the home country
B) Middling English Puritans who settled in New England in order to avoid religious persecution in the home country
C) Wealthy English Anglicans who settled in the South in order to develop it economically
D) Middling English Anglicans who settled in the Mid-Atlantic in order to develop it economically

Answer 1

B

Question 2

What did the ancients, including Plato and Aristotle, mean by "democracy?"

A) They thought it required elections
B) They thought it meant direct rule by the people meeting together personally
C) Rule by the people in their own self-interest
D) They thought it was equivalent to "free government"

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Name two philosophers associated with social contract theory

A) Locke and Smith
B) Locke and Hobbes
C) Polybius and Machiavelli
D) Rorty and Rawls

Answer 3

B

Question 4

To which branch of government does the "necessary and proper clause" apply?

A) The Legislative
B) The Executive
C) The Judiciary
D) Bureaucracy

Question 5

Which one of the following statements accurately describes the process by which the Constitution was ratified?

A) The Constitution required approval from all 13 state conventions in order to be ratified.
B) The Constitution required approval from nine state conventions in order to be ratified.
C) The Constitution required approval from ten state conventions in order to be ratified.
D) The Constitution required approval by a simple majority of seven states to be ratified.

Question 6

Which one of the following institutions did the Founders leave in the hands of the voters?

A) House of Representatives
B) Senate
C) President
D) Supreme Court

Question 7

Which one of the following was not a belief of the Founders regarding what a written constitution allows?

A) to limit and separate institutional power
B) to encourage political parties
C) for officeholders to watch and check each other
D) to define and secure the liberty of citizens

Question 8

After the Puritans in Massachusetts banished Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson for their unorthodox religious beliefs, the two made their way to ___ .

A) Connecticut
B) New Hampshire
C) Rhode Island
D) Vermont

Question 9

In colonial America, the French threat was removed due to ___ .

A) Gen. Washington's victory over the French forces at the siege of Yorktown
B) Thomas Jefferson's purchase of the Louisiana territory from France
C) the alliance between Americans and Hessians in French Canada
D) the British victory in the French and Indian War

Question 10

During the Seven Years War, which one of the following posed the greatest threat to the American colonies?

A) British troops
B) French troops
C) Spanish troops
D) Dutch troops

Question 11

In England, who opposed with force the Puritans' demand for religious freedom?

A) the King
B) the Anglican Church
C) the economic elites
D) All of the above

Question 12

What concept, belief, or value transferred from Europe did the open spaces in America undermine?

A) intolerance
B) political hierarchy
C) feudal restrictions
D) All of the above

Question 13

The average white man in colonial America wielded an economic and political influence enjoyed by the mass of men in no other place on earth because most had access to ___ .

A) The British Crown
B) religious freedom
C) firearms
D) property

Question 14

During the American Revolution, the best estimates are that __________of adult white males were patriots.

A) 40 percent
B) 60 percent
C) 80 percent
D) 90 percent

Question 15

The actual declaration of independence approved by the Second Continental Congress was ___ .

A) the Virginia House of Burgesses' instruction to its delegates on May 15
B) an election of a committee to prepare a statement on June 10
C) Richard Henry Lee's resolution passed on July 2
D) Thomas Jefferson's document adopted on July 4

Question 16

Richard Henry Lee wrote ___ .

A) The resolution on independence passed by the Second Continental Congress
B) The Declaration of Independence
C) Common Sense
D) The Rights of Man

Question 17

Shays's Rebellion __________in their decision to call the Federal Constitutional Convention Constitution.

A) was unknown to the Founders and thus of no consequence
B) had no impact on the Founders
C) gave pause and reluctance to the Founders
D) was perceived as a warning of instability by the Founders

Question 18

In the Founders' development of American democratic constitutionalism, all but which of the following ideas and concepts were included.

A) limited government
B) separation of powers and checks and balances
C) bicameralism and federalism
D) Oligarchy and equal rights

Question 19

The Great Compromise between the large states and the small states agreed to count slaves as three-fifths of a person with regard to ___ .

A) representation only
B) taxes only
C) both representation and taxes
D) Constitutional ratification

Question 20

The delegates to the Constitutional Conventional decided ___ .

A) to allow the federal government to set the rules for voting and conducting elections
B) to allow each state to set the rules for voting and conducting elections
C) to allow the federal government and each state to establish eligibility for voting and to conduct elections
D) To allow the first Congress to set conditions for voting

Question 21

At the Constitutional Convention, the Brearley Committee proposed the __________.

A) Great Compromise
B) Electoral College
C) Federalism
D) Interstate Commerce

Question 22

Which clause seemed to defeat the purpose of the Constitution's list of enumerated powers of Congress?

A) "take care" clause
B) "full faith and credit" clause
C) "necessary and proper" clause
D) "privileges and immunities" clause

Question 23

When legislation has been sent to the president by Congress, the president may __________the legislation.

A) sign
B) veto
C) ignore
D) All of the above

Question 24

How many amendments did Congress send to the states in an effort to add a Bill of Rights to the Constitution?

A) 10
B) 11
C) 12
D) 13

Question 25

Which two of the following are institutional checks on the legislature's ability to act rashly?

A) Presidential veto
B) Unilateralism
C) Bicameralism
D) Incrementalism

Question 26

Montesquieu contributed which two of the following concepts to the constitutional thinking of the Founders?

A) Freedom and equality make moderate government possible
B) Divine right monarchy renders consent unnecessary
C) Society benefits from science, discovery, and invention
D) Government is best limited by institutionally separating political power

Question 27

Which two of the following institutions are necessary to amend the Constitution?

A) President
B) Congress
C) Supreme Court
D) States

Question 28

Which two of the following were strongly in favor of adding a Bill of Rights to the Constitution?

A) Thomas Jefferson
B) Federalists
C) Alexander Hamilton
D) Anti-Federalists

Question 29

A republic may retain residual elements of monarchy and aristocracy.

Question 30

The Puritans fled religious persecution to settle in America and then provided all others who also fled religious persecution a safe haven regardless of religious beliefs.

Question 31

The new state governments formed during the Revolution tended to empower executives and upper legislative chambers at the expense of lower legislative chambers.

Question 32

Most of the Founders, though not all, respected the common people even if they did not fully trust them.

Question 33

During the early colonial era, British rule rested lightly on the colonists in America.

Question 34

British imperial administrators in London chose not to involve themselves deeply in the political and economic affairs of the colonies.

Question 35

Before the United States, no nation in the world, including Great Britain, had a written constitution.

Question 36

What ideas from John Locke appeared in the Declaration of Independence?

Question 37

How have Individualism and secularism contributed to the development of the American government?

Question 38

In what major ways did diversity impact American colonial development?

Question 39

Do you believe that the social contract is a practical reality or only an abstract idea? Support your answer with concrete examples.

Question 40

Would Montesquieu support the spread of democracy across the globe? Why or why not?

Question 41

What does the notion that there was a natural "openness" of America entail?

Question 42

Discuss the major concepts associated with classical liberalism.

Question 43

What role, if any, did religion play in the colonial settlement of America?

Question 44

If you could have only chosen one plan, would you have preferred the New Jersey plan or Virginia plan? Why?

Question 45

Trace the key steps in the constitutional amendment process.

Question 46

Would you have sided with the Federalists or Anti-Federalists? Why?

Question 47

Discuss the separation of powers and checks and balances within the framework provided by the first three articles of the U.S. Constitution.

Question 48

Discuss the debate between the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists over the ratification of the U.S. Constitution.

Question 49

Discuss the amendment process for the Constitution as laid out in Article V.

Question 50

Which plan ultimately served as the most influential model for the Constitution and what were some of its major features?

Question 51

Discuss the Great Compromise as fully yet succinctly as possible.

Question 52

Discuss how open space and a diverse population corroded hierarchy in colonial America.

Question 53

Discuss the differences between the authority and role of colonial governors with governors during and after the Revolution.

Question 54

Discuss the values that those who opposed the Revolution that they thought they were defending.

Question 55

Discuss the Founders' belief that constitutional political institutions were redesigned to remove powers from their more elitist elements and add powers to their more popular elements.

Question 56

Discuss Jefferson's understanding of individual rights.

Question 57

Discuss the various components of American democratic constitutionalism.